Minestrone di verdura

Dachary Carey of The Peasant Chef, asked me if I would be interested in a guest post discussing healthy food, organic and local raised products and why I decided to be a chef. I thought that Peasant Chef was really in line with my values and beliefs and without hesitation accepted the invitation. I wanted to feature a traditional and very healthy dish that my mom used to make with our garden vegetables and Minestrone came to my mind. It’s a very hearty soup, with so many different types of vegetables and vitamins so a gold mine in a bowl. Recipe and article at Peasant Chef.

Ingredients for 4

• 1 large potato, diced
• 2 carrots, diced
• 1 leek, chopped
• 1 cup green chards, chopped
• 2 cups green beens, cut in 1 inch pieces
• 1 cup fresh peas (or frozen)
• 1 zucchini, diced
• 2 celeri sticks, diced
• 1 shallot, finely diced
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 2 large ripe tomatoes, peeled and seedless
• 1/2 cup dry cannellini beans (or 1 cup can organic cannellini beans)
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1 tbs basil, chopped
• 2/3 cup Ditalini pasta (optional)
• 1.5 liters vegetable broth (slightly more)
• parmigiano reggiano, freshly grated
• salt and pepper

________________________________________________________________________________________

From Dachary Carey

The focus on healthy cooking and using fresh, local produce is important to us at Peasant Chef. It was in looking for other food lovers who share that focus that we came across Silvia’s website and blog. We love her concept as a personal chef who focuses on healthy, fresh cuisine, and her Italian and French background gives her an edge in creating tasty food that’s still a pleasure to look at and eat! That’s what caught our attention about Silvia’s blog – the beautiful pictures of her tasty food, and the passion that came through about cooking healthy foods with fresh ingredients.

Support local farms and be good to your body.
One of the great things about living in most parts of the United States is that there are local farms almost everywhere you go. While there are large tracts of land devoted to corporate farming, local farms haven’t vanished entirely, and are actually making a bit of a comeback. As people are getting more and more focused on healthy eating, sustainable farming practices and organic, pesticide-free ingredients, local farms are filling this niche.

By using produce and ingredients from local farms, you’re supporting the local farmers and simultaneously putting good things into your body. By using organic, pesticide-free foods, you’re not putting dangerous chemicals and hormones into your body. Not only is it good for the farmers, but it’s good for you – it’s a win-win!

Fresh ingredients just taste better.
One thing that a lot of people don’t realize is that fresh ingredients just taste better! If you look at the average packaged food at your grocery store, it’s loaded with artificial flavors and preservatives. The reason that companies need all that garbage is because the food isn’t fresh!

If you cook with fresh ingredients, you can tap into natural, fresh flavors. Fresh herbs and spices provide so much more flavor than dried versions, for example, that your mouth will be in for a real treat. And by cooking fresh foods instead of preparing packaged foods from the store, not only are you eating healthier, but you’ll even enjoy your food better!

Try it at home sometime. Make your own tomato sauce for pasta out of tomatoes, hamburger, onions, garlic and maybe even some green pepper. Add some salt and pepper, and maybe some herbs or oregano for extra flavor. It typically only takes 15-20 minutes to whip up a batch of fresh pasta sauce – it doesn’t have to take forever! Taste it, and you’ll realize what you’ve been missing by eating canned pasta sauce all those years – and you’ll never go back.

You are what you eat – literally!
Everyone has heard the phrase “you are what you eat,” but most people don’t realize exactly how literal that phrase truly is. If you eat unhealthy foods high in saturated fat all the time, your body will become saggy, listless and sluggish. On the other hand, if you eat healthy, fresh foods, you’ll have more energy and your immune system will perform better than it ever has!

Countries that eat a healthier diet have significantly lower rates of obesity, drastically reduced rates of heart disease and even live longer lives. The things you put in your body directly affect how your body performs, so give it good fuel and you’ll get a lot of healthy years out of it!

Keep eating healthy – and enjoy it!
Thanks, Silvia, for making a website focused on eating healthy, tasty foods! Hopefully you can help people realize that healthy food doesn’t have to lack flavor, and delicious food doesn’t have to be unhealthy.

Soups italian, minestrone, soup, Vegetables

Zuppa con cavolfiore, ceci e quadretti

I heard California got a lot of rain this season, all the news talked about it when I was in France and I heard it from my neighbors when I got back. The good things is that it’s clearing up. Eventhough France was very cold with -10C temperatures some days, my mom never made soup and neither did I. Of course during the holidays, we tend to eat “holiday meals” and strangely enough soup is not entitled to the be on the “holiday” list, so I somehow missed it.

One soup I really like is this cauliflower soup with chick peas and small pasta, you can put potatoes instead of the pasta, or even both. You can use any small pasta such as quadretti (little squares), ditali (small cylinders) or any small pasta to be used is broths or soups. I had none left so I cut some fettucine into small pieces, and it worked quite well. The difference is that quadretti are a egg pasta and thinner than fettucine which are not supposed to be used in soup as per the pasta étiquette. So I went against the étiquette, nonetheless it was really enjoyable. I think some ingredients can be substituted and some others, cannot. In this case, I would say it could be.

I am not sure how the word “pasta” is used in the US, if it refers to a particular pasta dish cooked in a particular way and not in soups. Then not sure what the word “noodle” refers to either, so I will try to be as accurate I can be. For me noodles reminds me of the Asian pasta, and not Italian pasta. Every kind of pasta in Italy has its own name, that makes it quite easy to what type of pasta you are talking about.

Ingredients for 4

• 1 medium size cauliflower
• 2 potatoes
• 4 medium  tomatoes, seedless, peeled and chopped
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 tbs onions chopped
• 1 rosemary sprig
• 1/2 lb chick peas (either canned or dry and soaked overnight)
• 5 tbs quadretti or small pasta for soups
• 2 tbs olive oil
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Heat olive oil in a large pot, brown onions, then add garlic, stir a few minutes. Add tomatoes, cook for about 5 minutes to let the water evaporates, then add potatoes, cauliflower and rosemary. Stir well to coat all the vegetables and cook for about 7 min stirring. Add enough broth to cover the vegetables (you might want to add extra to have enough liquid to cook the quadretti). Let it cook until the vegetables are tender but not mushy, remove rosemary then add chick peas. Cook for another 10 minutes. Add pasta and 1 garlic clove and cook until desired texture (I like them al dente). Sprinkle with olive oil, cracked pepper and serve.

Soups, Vegan cauliflower, chick peas, garbanzo beans, potatoes, soup, Vegan

Couleurs d’Automne – Soupe aux épinards, broccoli et poireaux, aux risoni complets et mimolette

Winter is soup time, and when I ran into mimolette, I could not resist. I had not seen Mimolette before in the US and I was so excited. I had planned to make a gratin, and a soup with it, but the cheese did not not make it to either dish. I just ate it all and in a very quick and fashionable manner.

Mimolette is a French cheese made in Lille, the North of France. It’s also called “Boule de Lille“, it’s a cheese produced with cow milk, with a condensed raw flesh (pâte pressée). Its deep orange color comes from a natural coloring called “roucou” which is a plant used in some cheeses such as Gouda, Cheddar or Edam and used in Europe as food coloring. Mimolette’s hard texture is similar to Dutch Gouda. The older it gets, the harder the texture becomes, and I really love extra old Mimolette, it tends to have a more pronounced character.

I somehow love salty cheeses, they go perfectly well in soups, gratins, and enhance many dishes. This soup made with three green vegetables is full of vitamins and flavors. When I make “creamy” and thick soups like this one, I like it served either with toasted bread or sometimes with small pasta cooked in the soup. You get a wholesome and wonderful meal. Risoni is the Italian name for “orzo”which in Italy is barley, so it can get confusing. My mom used to make soups when I was a child with risoni, it’s very common in Italy to use small pasta like this one or ditalini in soups.

The other important ingredient in this soup is the garlic that adds a lot of character to the broth, it balances out the earthy flavors of the green vegetables.

Ingredients for 4

• 100 g orzo
• 1 1/2 leek, diced
• 2 cups broccoli
• 2 cups raw spinach
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled and whole
• 6 tbs mimolette, grated
• 2 tbs olive oil
• vegetable broth
• salt and pepper

Preparation

In a large pot, heat olive oil, add broccoli and leeks and cook for about 5 minutes until the vegetables are coated with olive oil. Add 3 garlic cloves, whole and peeled. Add broth. For broth quantity, it needs to cover vegetables to about 1 cm of liquid. Adjust with salt and pepper. Cook until the vegetables are cooked all the way through about 20-30 minutes.

When vegetables are cooked add spinach leaves (if using baby spinach, no need to chop them, otherwise you will have to chop them roughly). Cook and extra 5-10 minutes. Add crushed garlic and cook an extra 5 minutes.

Keep about two laddles of vegetables aside. Blend the rest in a blender into a smooth purée. Place the vegetables pieces back into the pot with the purée and place back on pot at low heat. When it starts boiling, add orzo, and stir well. Keep on stirring for a while to prevent pasta from sticking. If the consistency is too thick add a little broth. Cook until al dente and serve in bowls. Add 1 tbs of mimolette and sprinkle with olive oil.

Soups, Vegetarian - dairy broccoli, cheese, leeks, mimolette, orzo, risoni, soup, spinach, wholewheat orzo

Une soupe pour ma nouvelle cocotte! – Velouté de choux de Bruxelles, pommes de terre et champignons

I have already made Brussels sprouts soup with cannelli beans a while ago, this is another version that is as good as the other one, just a little greener. I prefer Brussels sprouts in soups than as a side dish, I think their flavor gets smoother and more subtle. It has a velvety and creamy texture, with a nutty flavor from the mushrooms but very delicate. The weather forecast predicted a rainy week and season as a matter of fact and I am getting ready for some winter dishes and brussel sprouts being a winter vegetable, will be occasionally on my table this winter.

I know many people are not fond of Brussels sprouts, but I think it’s good to try new ways to prepare things. I like them, I am not crazy for them like I would be for artichokes but I like to make velouté with those cute little round balls.

I got a new cocotte Le Creuset (I think in the US it’s called Dutch oven), I had an old one that was too small. That’s wonderful to cook anything such as stews, sauces, soups, and I cooked the soup to celebrate its first use. I think every one who cooks has a cast-iron cocotte. It is indispensable in cooking. The advantages of enamel cast-iron pots is that they diffuse the heat evenly and are perfect for slow cooking, braising, roasting, etc…

Le Creuset line tends to be a little on the expensive side in the US, it’s not that cheap in France either but still cheaper than here, in my opinion, it’s worth it since those pots last a lifetime.

Ingredients for 4-5

• 1 lb Brussels sprouts, cut in halves
• 4 potatoes, peeled and diced
• 1 cup cremini mushrooms, roughly cut
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 thyme leave
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 4 tbs crème fraîche
• 4 slices prosciutto (optional)
• 1 vegetable bouillon cube
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Wash the sprouts, cut the extra stem and remove the hard leaves from the outside.

In a large pot, heat olive oil, add onion and brown them. Add thyme and stir for another 5 minutes.

Add Brussels sprouts, potatoes and stir again to coat the vegetables with olive oil and onions. Add bouillon and water. For water quantity, I cover the vegetables with about 1 cm water showing above level of vegetables. That is the perfect quantity I use when making velouté. Adjust with salt and pepper.

Cook until all the vegetables are cooked. When cooked remove thyme branch, and blend using a blender or a mixer.

Serve with a small spoon of creme fraîche and a slice of grilled prosciutto.

Soups brussels sprouts, mushrooms, potatoes, soup, veloute

La povera zuppa – Passatelli in brodo vegetale con bietole e carote

I had a conversation with my mom this morning, she told me she made passatelli, suddenly I got the irresistible urge to make them too. When I lived at home, I was never a fan of them, probably because that soup was served way too often. Between my grandma and my mom, we ate passatelli maybe once a week. When you eat something all the time, the excitement goes away. I guess tastes change when you grow up and move out of your country.

This is a regional soup very common in Romagna and Marche regions of Italy, it’s traditionally made for some festive occasions, but then people end up making them when they feel like it. It’s another peasant dish made basically with breadrumbs, parmesan, eggs, nutmeg and if you want lemon peel (I like it better without it, I think the lemon is too strong).

The original recipes is made with a chicken or beef broth (or sometimes a combination of both). I like it also with just a vegetable broth. Here, the broth has been enhanced with chards and carrots “en julienne” (cut in tiny strips), so you get a little texture and color and of course the benefits of eating vegetables.

I always ate broth made with hen instead of chicken, hen is fatter and takes hours to cook, so it’s mainly used in broths. Nowadays people use chicken in their broth, probably because it takes less time to cook. It’s important to “degrease” the broth from the deposits and fat the meat produces (if you’re using meat) while cooking, so you’ll get a clear and healthy broth. When making passatelli usually, you eat the boiled meat along with the soup called “lesso“, I have never been a fan of it, and remember my dad pouring tons of black pepper and olive oil on top of his meat.

You need to have that particular kind of potato masher (schiacciapatate) like this one, to make those little round and long threads (not sure how to describe them).  There is another tool used to make passatelli but I don’t think it’s available in the US.

I like to make my own breadcrumbs with old and hard baguette or what is called “Italian bread”, I grate it and get great quality crumbs. The ones you buy already made in stores tend to have an unpleasant taste, and for the passatelli home made crumbs work much better and hold the paste together well, so when you drop them in the broth, they don’t break.

Ingredients for 4

For the broth

• 4 cups or more of water
• 1 leek
• 1 carrot
• 2 celeri stalks
• 1 turnip
• 1 onion with 4 cloves
• 1 bay leave
• 1 thyme sprig
• 1/2 hen or chicken, or beef
• salt and pepper

For the passatelli

• 250 g parmesan, finely grated
• 250 g breadcrumbs
• 3 tbs flour
• 4 eggs
• nutmeg
• lemon peel (optional)
• salt and pepper

Preparation

For the broth

Using a large pot, mix ingredients with water and let it simmer for a while at least an hour. If using hen, it might take over 2 hours. Regularly, remove the deposits you get on the surface of your broth (especially, if you are using a meat based broth).

When the broth is cooked, remove all the vegetables and residues and drain it through a sieve to get a clear broth. Add carrots and chopped chards, and let it cook for a few minutes, until the carrots are cooked.

For the passatelli

In a mixing container, mix, breadcrumbs, parmesan, eggs, flour, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Mix well and let it rest for about an hour. You need to have a hard enough mixture, but not too hard or it will not go through the potato masher.

Fill the potato masher with the dough mixture, bring the potato masher on top of boiling broth and squeeze to produce the passatelli, then cut the base with a knife. The passatelli will drop on top of your pot. Cook for one minute or so. Remove from the stove, sprinkle wit olive oil and serve hot.

Soups brodo, broth, carrots, chards, chicken, marche, parmesan, passatelli, Pasta, romagna, Soups

Où sont vos racines? – Soupe de légumes racine aux chips de navets et crème d’estragon

I got a little sick this weekend, another weird migraine that made me drained, so anytime I get sick, I like to eat soups…I know I made one not that long ago, but when I feel sick, soups are great to get re-hydrated and they seem to coat my stomach very nicely. Do I sound like a grandma? maybe. I haven’t made that root vegetable soup for a long time, and had everything in the refrigerator to make one…so here we go grandma started to peel the vegetables and the soup was on its way.

I love root vegetables in so many ways, and in a soups, they’re delicious. All those flavors are combined together to make a smooth and velvety purée. Rutabaga had a bad reputation in Europe especially among people who went through the second world war, since it was the only vegetable they could find during that time. It’s basically an hybrid vegetable that was produced due to the “hybridisation” of a turnip and a cabbage.

My mom adores to puré her vegetable soup and anytime I go home, there is a huge pot filled with some kind of colorful soup for dinner, we rarely have heavy dinners… I am so spoiled that I turn into a brat, a real “bratty” brat…that would be me, la fille indigne (the unworthy daughter) instead of eating her soup, I make the “Maggi” soup called Sveltesse 0% that is an dehydrated soup with 50 calories per bag. You just pour boiling water on top et voilà! you have a quick soup with 50 calories that tastes good (for a dehydrated soup, it does). I have no idea why, or how…I never eat any kind of that stuff, ever, but for whatever unexplained reason, when I am home, I like the Sveltesse soups. Of course, I get the annoyed stare from my mom, who got somehow used to it, but cannot help to give me the look.

I think we all have our “devil food“, and I admit it with no shame, that Sveltesse 0% is my little devil soup, well at least it’s not some heavy chocolate cake filled with butter and corn syrup.

I never eat that kind of thing here, when I go home, I rarely cook, since two cooks in the kitchen are too many, then I break the habits, all habits. I even turn into a meat eater, not that much but I eat prosciutto, and salami. Something I rarely do here. When you change environment, I think you tend to change your habits also, and adapt to the local way of living..if you don’t, it can be a nightmare.

The little twist of the soup is the cream of tarragon, and turnip chip…the turnip chip looks like one but is not fried, it’s just cooked in the oven.

Ingredients for 6

For the soup

• 2 carrots, peeled and cut in chunks
• 1 medium size potato, peeled and cut in chunks
• 1 onion, diced
• 1/2 sweet potato, peeled and cut in chunks
• 3 turnips (2 for the soup, 1 for the chips), peeled and cut in chunks, except the one for the chips
• 1 parsnip, peeled and cut in chunks
• 1 rutabaga, peeled and cut in chunks
• 1 cup celeri head, peeled and cut in chunks
• vegetable broth
• 1 tbs olive oil
• salt and pepper

For the tarragon cream

• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 2 tbs plain yogurt
• 1 tbs chopped tarragon
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• salt and pepper

Preparation

For the soup

In a large pot, heat olive oil, then add onions and bown them. Add the rest of the vegetables, salt and pepper and stir and cook for about 5-10 minutes. Add broth, enough to cover the vegetables by 1/3 inch. Simmer until the vegetables are cooked. Add broth as needed, to always have the same quantity on top of the vegetables.

When vegetable are cooked, mix with a hand blender or mixer. Adjust salt and pepper and serve with a tsp of cream of tarragon and 2 turnip chips.

For the turnip chips

Slice the turnips about 2mm slice. Boil in water for a 5 minutes. Drain and pat dry, then place in the oven and let it dry, sprinkle with olive oil and salt. Let it dry some more until the chip is crunchy.

For the tarragon cream

Whip heavy cream. In a mixing container, mix yogurt, lemon juice, tarragon, salt and pepper. Carefully add whipped cream.

Soups carrot, celeri rabe, parsnips, potato, root vegetables, rutabaga, soup, tarragon, tarragon cream, tunrips, turnip chips

Il pleut de la soupe! – Potage aux épinards, cresson, champignons, carottes et riz rouge

After the fog, the rain…yes I heard more is coming our way. Today was so rainy and windy, that the wind broke my brand new umbrella!

In Europe, people have this particular image about California that it’s such a sunny place, lots of palm trees, white sandy and warm beaches, and lots of extremely fit people with six packs abs. I grew up watching American series with all those elements and when I first arrived to California with my business school, we were so excited, as excited as if we were going to land on the moon. “California here I come”…then you realize that what you’ve seen on TV, is just true on TV and not in real life. Maybe it is true in Los Angeles where the movie making machine has taken roots but not in San Francisco.

We just didn’t know that San Francisco and Los Angeles were that far apart, that the climate in those two cities was so different and that they could be two different countries speaking the same language.

I had no idea that the weather in San Francisco was most of the time foggy, cold and windy…and after a terribly foggy summer, we are entering a rainy season. When it rains outside, sometimes it rains in my kitchen and when it rains, soups are in the menu.

No I am not complaining, this is not a complaint in case you think it is, I am just explaining how California is perceived for Europeans…white beaches, sun sun and more sun and muscular men.

The great thing is that there are so many wonderful stores, exotic products, that you start to realize that fog and cold beaches do have a certain charm after all. The good thing is that you will not get a skin disease related to sun rays if we are looking at the bright side of things. I have never lived in a warm city so I cannot really miss the sun, since I never had it. My hometown was even colder, rainier and foggier. I always complained to my parents asking them why they moved from a sunny place in Italy to a overcast and rainy region in France, and the response was “we moved where there was work”. Fair enough.

In France, we have a traditional velouté made with watercress and potatoes, la soupe au cresson, but today I didn’t feel like a velouté but wanted some chunky soup texture. It is indeed a watercress soup but with more than watercress. I love the Bhutanese red rice in soups, the little thing that can be unappealing for some people, is its color, when cooked in broth, the broth turns into a brownish reddish color. If you don’t like that, you might want to cook the rice separately and add it at the end. The other option you have to avoid a reddish broth is to use a brown or round white rice instead.

Ingredients for 2

• 1/2 cup uncooked Bhutanese red rice or any other rice (or 1 cup pre-cooked rice if desired)
• 1 bunch watercress, stems removed
• 2 cups spinach, chopped
• 1/2 onion, finely chopped
• 6 large cremini mushrooms, sliced
• 1 carrot, shredded
• 1 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 3 cups vegetable broth
• 1 thyme sprig
• 3 tbs pecorino, grated
• salt and pepper

Preparation

In a large pot, brown onions in 1 tbs olive oil, add thyme. Add rice, stir for a few minutes to coat if with olive oil, then add broth. 1o minutes before the rice is cooked, add carrots, watercress, spinach.

Saute mushrooms in a tsp olive oil, and let water evaporate. Add mushrooms and garlic to the soup. Let it cook for another 5 minutes. Serve in bowls and sprinkle with olive oil and percorino cheese.

Soups, Vegetarian - dairy bhutanese red rice, carrots, mushrooms, soup, spinach, watercress

Douce et amère – Velouté d’endives aux crevettes

Endive also called chicon in Belgium and Northern France is often used in French cooking and is such a creative vegetable. You can use it as a salad, soup, gratin, tarte, braised, and so many other ways. It is also high in magnesium, phosphorus, calcium so quite a nutritious little plant. Endive was found in the 19th century in Belgium by Mr. Bresiers who was responsible for the botanical gardens in Brussels, that’s why they’re called Belgium endives in the US. Supposedly to pay less taxes, Mr. Bresiers hid chicorée roots underground in his cellar and a few weeks later when he came to pick them up, he noticed beautiful white leaves coming out of the ground, those leaves are since then called endives.

The particularity of endive is its bitterness, and that’s what I love about it.

We have a traditional endive dish called endives au jambon, that every household in France knows how to prepare. It’s quite a simple dish but so delicious. It’s basically cooked endives and rolled inside a slice of ham, in a béchamel sauce and topped with gruyère, then cooked in the oven until the cheese melts and turns golden brown. I don’t know if Julia Childs brought that back to the US, but it’s definitely a traditional French dish, that is worth testing.

The bitterness of endives goes perfectly well with the sweetness of the shrimps, overall endives are a great combination for fish or white meat and I use them quite often in my dishes. Also a many dishes combine orange and endive, because  of the flavor match.

Ingredients for 4

For the soup

• 5 endives, cut crosswise
• 4 endives, shredded or cut lengthwise
• 1 yellow onion sliced
• 1 medium size potato, cubed
• 2 tbs crème fraîche or heavy cream
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1 tbs olive oil
• vegetable bouillon

For the shrimps

• 1 lbs of medium size shrimps or about 20
• 1 cup orange juice
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 tsp soy sauce

Preparation

Marinate shrimps in garlic and soy sauce for about 1 hour.

In a large pot, heat olive oil, add onions and potatoes and cook for about 5-10 minutes. Add cut endives and cook for another 5 minutes, stirring. Add broth (enough quantity to cover the vegetables), salt and pepper and cook until the vegetables are cooked, about 30 minutes. Blend in a mixer and add cream. Mix well and place at low heat to keep it warm.

In a small pan, add 1 tsp olive oil, saute shredded endives until soft and browned then add sugar and caramelize them. Remove from heat and set aside. In the same pan, saute shrimps, then add orange juice and let it reduce.

Serve soup in bowls, place shredded endives in the middle and 5 shrimps on top. Sprinkle with parsley.

Soups endive, shrimps, soup, veloute

Les feuilles mortes – velouté de potimarron et poireaux à l’origan et yaourt, tartine chaude de roquefort

I was listening to Yves Montand’s classic song “les Feuilles Mortes” translated by “Autumn Leaves” but it literally means “Dead Leaves” and it never fails, I get tears in my eyes…that song makes me shiver. And yes, automne (fall) is coming…and I felt this soup really is a nice representation of fall, with its yellow and green colors.

Originally I bought this squash to stuff with a goat cheese mousse…it did not make it. I tried to resist for days to not cut it. It was too beautiful to cut and would have been such a great dish if I could have stuck to my plans…but no, I wanted a soup, and the only thing that was left to turn into a soup was this baby. So here. Morale of the story, don’t be too rigid, sometimes you can change plans.

I never get tired of soups, they can be blended, in chunks, cold, whatever, I love them…besides when they’re as healthy as this one, I love them even better, because I do watch roughly my calories intake and my weight. They say French women don’t get fat, well the bad news is, they do get fat, if they eat a lot…They do not have a particular nor wonderful metabolism (and the truth is that I am not even French, I just pretend, because I am just a confused woman).

So my question is why not eat delicious gourmet dishes that are most of all a bundle of health and nutrition (hope my English makes sense). The pancetta is optional, I love its crunchiness on top of the soup though.

The yogurt touch at the end is somehow a substitute to crème fraîche. In France we usually add 1 tbs crème fraîche in any velouté to make it even more velvety (velouté). Yogurt works perfectly fine here, let’s make it light, fat does not necessarily mean flavor anyway. Now do I sound like those “freaks” who watch every little bite they eat and do not enjoy anything always counting calories and talking about non-fat? Please say no, because I am really not, if you know me.

The roquefort tartine is a nice addition to the soup, they really make a pleasant combination of flavors, but you need good walnut bread to truly enjoy the roquefort. Obviously you don’t need to have a tartine to enjoy the soup, but the combination is something to absolutely try. Melting roquefort on walnut bread is a real treat.

I got a little frustrated with my camera today, obviously I am no photographer, I could not shoot anything despite the great light I had coming from the bay window, everything turned out awful, just two shots out of 30 came out just ok and not even great. Too bad you cannot see the white dash of yogurt in the middle of the bowl because of the angle. I have no idea why some days where light is great I get terrible shots and days where it’s all grey, I get decent bright pictures. Is there a little demon in my Canon? Could be. Maybe taking one class or two where I bought this camera would not hurt.

Ingredients for 4

For the soup

• 1 leek
• 6 large sunburst squash
• 1 onion
• 3 tbs fresh oregano, chopped
• 1 tbs olive oil
• vegetable broth
• 4 tbs plain yogurt
• 4 slices of pancetta (optional)
• salt and pepper

For the roquefort tartine

• 4 tbs Roquefort cheese (or any blue cheese)
• 4 slices walnut bread
• pepper

Preparation

Wash leek and cut it in medium size chunks. Wahs squash and cut in quarters. In a large pot, heat olive oil, add onion and let it cook until it becomes transparent. Add 1 1/2 tbs oregano, cook for a few minutes, then add squash and leeks. Cook for another 10 minutes at medium heat, stirring. Add broth. I never measure broth. I add enough so that it covers the quantity of vegetables and that is the perfect quantity for a veloute. Add salt. COver with a lid and cook at medium heat until the vegetables are soft and cooked, about 30 minutes.

Blend using a hand blender or mixer.

In a small bowl, add yogurt and the remaining chopped oregano

In a non-stick pan, cook pancetta until it gets crunchy.

Cut roquefort in slices and place on top of bread. Broil until the cheese has melted.

Serve soup in bowls, adding a tbs of yogurt/oregano mixture in the middle of the bowl and top with a slice of pancetta. Serve with roquefort tartine on the side.

Soups blue cheese, leeks, pancetta, Recipes, roquefort, sunburst squash, veloute, yogurt

On a saoulé le melon! – Soupe de melon au yaourt et porto blanc

I got inspired by my mom’s traditional appetizer she loves to serve in summer which are called melon au porto, a quite delicious way to serve melon. In France we have those small round melons called melons Charentais, which are grown in the Charente region. They are so sweet, and so delicately flavored, their pulp has a deep orange color that makes your mouth water. They tend to be expensive, but such a treat. For melon au porto, you need to cut the top, like a little cap, remove the seeds from the inside and fill the melon with red port. Everyone at the table has it’s own melon to eat and anytime you take a spoonful of melon, you take some port with it, and it’s absolutely delicious. you just need the best melons.

I had bought a Tuscan melon (or what they call it in the US), not sure they come from Tuscany, but it’s the melons I use to eat in Italy at my uncle’s house. He grows a huge field of those melons and we used to eat them all summer long. I think what they call Tuscan melon is similar to cantaloupe, but I would go with the Tuscan melon if possible, since I had bad experiences with cantaloupe, sometimes they don’t have too much flavor.

I like this as an appetizer or a cold soup you serve before a meal, so I did not add any sugar, we just keep the natural sweetness of the melon and nothing else. I love the idea of a fresh summer and fruity soup, they’re light, nutritious and so healthy. This soup needs to be very chilled, you can leave it for a couple of hours in the refrigerator. Also, I added a little bit of ginger, but that’s optional, it’s up to you. Usually, I never add ginger to any of my fruit dishes, I think ginger is overpowering and kills the natural flavor of the fruit.

Ingredients for 2-3

• 1.12 lb (or 800 gr, or 1/2 melon) Tuscan melon
• 4 tbs plain yogurt
• 4 tbs white port
• 1/3 tsp ginger, grated (optional)

Preparation

Cut melon in pieces, leave some slices for decoration. Place in the refrigerator for a couple of hours, 2 hours minimum. Blend with a food processor and make it a purée. Add port, yogurt and ginger, mix well. Leave in the refrigerator for another hour or so. Serve very chilled in bowl. Add slice on top and mint leaves for decoration.

Appetizers, Soups Appetizer, chilled, melon, soup, yogurt